For the second year in a row, Florida baseball head coach Kevin O’Sullivan has turned to the transfer portal to find a starting catcher.
With Karson Bowen and Cole Stanford moving on — both are out of eligibility — rising senior AJ Malzone is the only backstop on the roster. O’Sullivan has praised Malzone in the past, but injuries limited him to just one at-bat all year. A medical redshirt season is likely for Malzone, but the Gators need to replace their middle-of-the-order and everyday backstop in Bowen.
Jon Embury, a rising junior who played two years with Florida Gulf Coast, committed to the Gators on Thursday. Baseball America ranks Embury No. 16 among players in the transfer portal, and he is the second catcher listed. D1Baseball ranked Embury No. 19 among all Division I catchers in Week 12 of the season.
Embury is a bat-first catcher. He slashed .364/.429/.655 with a 1.084 OPS in 2026. He led the Eagles with 17 home runs and 60 runs batted in. Embury finished second on the team in hits (80) and was third in doubles (13).
One former teammate of Embury’s told Gators Wire he will “100% be able to handle SEC pitching.” Embury went 1-for-8 against Georgia as a freshman. That one hit was a home run, and he’s a more refined player now. FGCU didn’t play any SEC opponent in 2026, but he went 1-for-8 with two RBIs against Power Four competition in games against UCF and Miami.
Embury’s eye improved a lot from his freshman to sophomore year. He lowered his strikeout rate to 15.7% from 29.9%, and his walk rate rose to 7.9% from 4.5%. His weighted runs created plus (wRC+) was 146, where 100 is average, and ISO is .291, where anything above .200 indicates a power bat.
Defensively, Embury has the arm strength to gun runners out, but he’s converting from third base as a freshman. Embury played catcher at Venice High School, though, so he’s familiar with the position. Things can be a “little choppy behind the plate,” according to one FGCU pitcher, but “he throws out a lot of runners.” He threw out 20 of 36 baserunners (55.6%) last season.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida baseball hits transfer portal early, fills hole at catcher
Reporting by David Rosenberg, Gators Wire / Gators Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By David Rosenberg, Gators Wire | USA TODAY Network
